Certain embodiments of the present invention relate to an electrical connector assembly that uses connection assurance features for mating resisting components. More particularly, certain embodiments of the present invention relate to an electrical connector assembly having connection assurance features that engage a lever member on a mate assist assembly.
In certain applications, electronic components require an electrical connector assembly that joins first and second housings containing electrical contacts. One housing includes male electrical contacts, while the other housing includes female electrical contacts. The first housing is configured to be received inside the second housing such that the male and female electrical contacts are electrically connected. The electrical contacts retained within the first housing extend to a rear wall and are connected to wires that extend outward from the first housing to an electronic component. A wire shield is attached to the first housing about the rear wall to cover the wires. The wire shield has slots along flexible members that receive tabs extending from the rear wall to hold the wire shield about the rear wall.
The electrical contacts retained within the second housing extend through a rear wall down through a template positioned perpendicularly to the rear wall such that intermediate portions of the electrical contacts are uncovered. Tail ends of the electrical contacts extend through the template to be press fit into printed circuit boards. Tooling is used to support the uncovered intermediary portions of the electrical contacts when the electrical contacts are press fit into the printed circuit boards.
In a traditional electrical connector assembly, the first housing is connected to the second housing by hand. In order to be sure that the first and second housings are properly connected with the electrical contacts electrically engaged, the first and second housing are provided with a latch assembly more generally referred to as a position assurance feature. The latch assembly includes a base plate and a suspended prong on the first housing and a ramp on the second housing. The base plate is slidably retained beside the prong. When the first housing is inserted about the second housing, the prong snaps over the ramp and the base plate is then slid over the ramp and the prong into an engagement position. When the base plate is in the engagement position, an operator is assured that the first and second housings are fully connected.
However, as the number of electrical contacts to be mated increases, it becomes difficult to fully join the first and second housings because of friction between the mating electrical contacts. Therefore, a mate assist assembly is used to provide the force necessary to connect the first and second housings. The typical mate assist assembly is a lever member connected to one of the housings which has cam arms that engage racks on the other housing as the lever member is rotated through a range of motion. The interaction of the cam arms and the racks provides force to overcome the friction between the electrical contacts and easily connect the first and second housings. Typically, electrical connector assemblies with a lever member do not include a latch assembly because the lever member and latch assembly interfere with each other in conventional designs.
The typical electrical connector assembly with a mate assist assembly suffers from a number of drawbacks. First, the lever member may be positioned such that when the first housing is connected to the second housing, the cam arms of the lever member are improperly aligned with the racks. Therefore, the lever member may be rotated to a position that indicates the first and second housings are fully joined without having engaged the racks to connect the first and second housings. Thus, the first housing may only loosely be retained about the second housing such that the electrical contacts are not connected, even though the first and second housings may appear to be fully connected.
Also, the wire shield is difficult to remove and attach to the first housing. The wire shield is removed from the first housing by using a tool to pry the flexible members outward away from the rear wall to separate the slots in the flexible members from the tabs. Likewise, the wire shield is attached to the first housing by prying the flexible members outward such that the slots receive the tabs. Therefore, anytime an operator wishes to have access to the wires or the rear wall of the first housing, the operator has to have special tooling and take the time to pull each tab out of a corresponding slot.
Further, the use of the tooling to support the electrical contacts extending from the second housing when the tail ends are press fit into the printed circuit boards is time consuming and difficult. When an operator wishes to connect the electrical contacts to the printed circuit boards, the operator must use special tooling and separately hold each group of electrical contacts during interconnection, which is time consuming. Also, the tooling is too bulky to be used on closely aligned electrical contacts, and thus certain alignments of electrical contacts cannot be used with the second housing.
Therefore, a need exists for a connector assembly that overcomes the above problems and addresses other concerns experienced in the prior art.